Review: Contagious

Contagious, Why Things Catch On

By Jonah Berger2 thumbs up

Entertaining read. Great stories to illustrate the points. Truly tickles your psychological arousal. As the book says, “nobody talks about something boring.” This book helps outline the different ways you can make your product or message entertaining and noticed.

I advise you to read the book to get a deeper understanding of how to use each of them.

Social Currency… Make people feel like insiders

Triggers… Use something in the environment to remind people of your product or message

Emotion… Focus on the feeling

Public… Make things more observable to make them easier to imitate

Practical Value… People like to help others. Show them how to do this with your product or message.

Stories… People tell stories. Make the message or product a vital part of the story told.

Golden Nugget: STEPPS is the basis of Contagious. This is an acronym for the six principles that influence whether a product or message will catch on. Use all six principles or just a few.